Pokemon Online – Indie app of the day

What is Pokemon Online?

Pokemon Online is one of the few Pokemon experiences you can get on Android without going through the hassle of downloading an emulator and the games. The idea behind the app is simple. It strips away all the RPG and story elements and lets battle your Pokemon team online against other players. The purpose is to hone your battle strategies, see which teams do the best, and figure out strategies for beating harder opponents.

ADVERTISEMENT

Despite the lack of story elements and RPG mechanics, the game manages to offer quite a bit of content. You can either have a team selected for you at random or you can carefully craft your own. By craft your own, I mean you get to pick which Pokemon you want, their abilities, and their level. This means you can go with your favorites or experiment with ones you’ve never used before. Given the number of Pokemon available, the number of permutations are quite large.

Once in battle, you play as though it were a typical Pokemon battle by selecting moves and abilities against a live opponent. This means connecting to a server which means you’ll need to have an internet connection in order to play. Aside from choosing your Pokemon team and moves, you can also play by various rule sets. If you want to play by the old school Pokemon Red or Blue rules, you can choose those or if you want to play by a newer rule set, you can. Playing by different rule sets can cause different effects depending on what attacks you use. That adds a fun layer of complexity on top of an already decently fun battle system.

Along with battling people, you can also participate in chat rooms and private messages if you so choose. It’s also worth nothing that there is a desktop version of this for the big three desktop operating systems which allows you to transport teams and face people cross platform. There is also a fairly active community of players complete with forums if you decide you want to get even further into the community.

What is wrong with this app?

The worst that’s been reported are server connection issues. Every now and then people will not be able to connect in order to play against other people. Another bug that has been frequently reported is the in-game menu button not working for some people. It seems to be pretty random so it’s a roll of the dice. If you don’t get those issues, it seems to be a fairly stable and solid application. Of course, like any online community populated by hardcore fans, there may be a little animosity but those are the risks we all take when joining new communities.

Final thoughts

Overall, this is a fun little game. It’s not the classic Pokemon that everyone knows and loves, but if you’ve always been into the battling part of Pokemon then this is an app you can’t miss. There are the occasional server issues and a few bugs, but nothing too bad. It is important to remember that this is the battle part of Pokemon only. If you’re more of a fan of the story and didn’t enjoy the battling part so much, you probably will not enjoy this app. If you want to check it out, use the button below.

Yep sorry that’s my bad. Borrowed the button code from yesterday’s indie app forgot to change the link. Should be fixed now :)

VirginiaCarter

Along with battling people, you can also participate in chat rooms and private messages if you so choose. It’s also worth nothing that there is a desktop version of this for the big three desktop operating systems which allows you to transport teams and face people cross platform. There is also a fairly active community of players complete with forums if you decide you want to get even further into the community. http://num.to/7058-5840-8151

MasterMuffin

Wait, so Uber tier is available? That’s just broken

MadCowOnAStick

My Arceuses are ready. Be prepared.

Colby Leong

Please your messing with Brock, you don’t stand a chance…unless you’re like that punk kid that came in and hit the sprinklers.